Centrifugal pump.



J. VALK.

GENTRIFUGAL PUMP. APPLICATION FILED MAR.16,1910.

Patented June 21, 1910.

Attorneys ltnes es 5 /1 JAMES VALK, 0F TOPEKA, KANSAS.

' CEZNTRIFUGAL PUMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 21, 1910.

Application filed March 16, 1910. Serial No. 549,655.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES VALK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Topeka, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have invented. a new and useful Centrifugal Pump, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to centrifugal pumps and is more particularly an improvement upon the structure disclosed in Patent No. 933,681, issued to me on September 7, 1909.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an impeller in the form of a fiat wheel arranged for rotation within a casing provided therefor, the said impeller having means whereby water or other liquid operated upon thereby will be expelled therefrom by centrifugal force and carried in a circular path concentric with the impeller and finally discharged through an outlet orifice provided therefor.

A further object is to provide a pump of this character which dispenses with the use of a check'valve in the inlet and which is, instead, provided with valves carried by the impeller and which are arranged to automatically open under the action of centrifual force.

A still further object is to provide an impeller having a series of compartments therein for the reception of bodies of water to be discharged from the pump, each of the said compartments being formed with an air vent whereby air is prevented from becoming trapped within the impeller. I

Another object is to provide an impeller having valves which are designed not only to close the outlet ports of the impeller during the priming of the pump, but which also, at the same time, close the air vents.

With these and other objects in View the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings :--Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section through a pump con-v structed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a section on line A-B Fig. 1.

- Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates a base adapted to be bolted or otherwise secured upon a supporting structure and this base is formed with standards 2 in which is journaled a shaft 3, said shaft being rovided with a pulley 4 or the like locate preferably between the standards and adapted to be driven by any suitable motor.

The shaft 3 projects through a bearing 5 formed at the center of a plate 6 which constitutes one side of the pump casing, this casing being made up, in addition to the plate 6, of a plate 7 having a rounded marginal portion 8 the free edge of which is bolted or otherwise fixedly secured to the marginalportion of the plate 6. The casing thus formed is in the shape of a volute 'and the rounded marginal portion thereof merges into a tangentially disposed outlet extension 9. A central opening 10 is formed within the plate 7 and extending around this opening and laterally from the plate is a cap 11 which serves to support one end of a feed pipe 12. A recess 13 is formed within the center of the inner face of plate 6 at a point directly opposite the opening 1-0 and the shaft 3 pro ects into this recess. In order that the casing may be held fixed relative to the base 1, a bracket 14 is secured to the base and to the plate 6 or, if preferred, this bracket may constitute an integral part of the plate.

The impeller is preferably .in the form of a one piece hollow disk or Wheel such as has been indicated at 15 and has a central boss 16 upon one side thereof and which is journaled within the recess 13, said boss being engaged by the shaft 3, so that, when said shaft is rotated, the impeller will also be rotated.

An inlet opening 17 is formed in the center of the impeller and directly opposite the boss 16, and a tubular extension 18 is arranged about this opening and extends laterally from the wheel 15 and around the end of the feed pipe 12. A flange 19 may be formed upon the free end of this tubular extension and a ring 20 may be adjustably connected to said flange for the purpose of holding a packing ring 21 in position between the tubular extension 18 and the feed pipe 12. As shown in Fig. 1 the cap 11 .serves to conceal the extension 18 and the parts connected to it.

-Discharge openings 22 are formed in the periphery of the wheel at regular intervals and arcuate webs 23 are formed within the wheel and extend from the inlet opening 17 to the respective outlet openings 22. These webs are curved outwardly in a direction 0 posite to that in which the wheel is adapted to rotate and com artments 24 are formed between the we s, the transverse area of each compartment gradually diminishing toward its outlet 22 from an intermediate oint. It will be noted by referring'to Fig. 2 that each of the webs 23 gradually merges into the peripheral wall of the wheel and that the adjoining webs thus cooperate to form nozzles through which water may be discharged along lines substantially concentric with the casing in which the wheel is mounted.

Each of the Webs 23 has an air vent 25 therein. and adjacent the outlet opening 22, and a valve 26 is pivotally connected to the peripheral portion of the wheel close to each outlet and is adapted to be normally held, by centrifugal force, within a recess 27 provided therefor. The valves are so located and proportioned that when they are swung inwardly toward the center of the wheel, they will contact with the adjoining webs 23 so as to close the oulets of the compartments 24 and also close the air vents 25.

In operating the pump the same is first primed and is then driven by any suitable motor provided therefor so as to cause the impeller 15 to rotate at a high speed within its casing. The extension 18 will of course rotate upon the stationary feed pipe 12 and centrifugal force will cause the valves 26 to become seated Within the recesses 27. At the same time the water or other liquid will be discharged through the compartments 24 and the outlets 22 in the form of jets which are directed along lines substantially concentric'with the periphery of the impeller. The said impeller thus not onlyacts to throw the water outwardly by centrifugal force and thus establish a suction through the feed pipe 12, but also forces the discharged water 1n a substantially circular path within the volute and directs it outwardly through the discharge extension 9. During the initial operation of the pump, the air contained within the compartments 24 will be free to escape through the vents 25 and inasmuch as these vents are very small, the leakage of water therethrough subsequent to the discharge of the air, will not in any wise reduce the efliciency of the pump.

In order that the pum may exert a constant and uninterrupte pull or suction upon the water being elevated, it has been found desirable to make the central inlet opening 17 of greater area than the outlet opening in the casing and the combined areas of the outlets 22 greater than the area periphery of the of the impeller inlet be five inches and the diameter of the casing outlet four inches, it has been found, by actual test, that best results are obtained by so proportionin the outlets of the impeller, that, when t eir areas are combined, they are equal to an outlet opening four and onehalf inches in diameter.

Attention is called to the fact that the impeller is in the form of a flat disk havin a continuous peri heral portion interrupte solely by the out et openings 22, this being an important feature inasmuch as said continuous marginal portion results in the-elimination of practically all undesirable friction of water upon the parts of the pump especially in view of the fact that the impeller discharges the therefrom and carries it in a substantially circular ath.

By re erring to Fig. 2 of the drawings it will be seen that the webs 23 do not roject beyond the margin of the impeller in ct but, instead, terminate at the inlet and outlets that is to say, the webs 23 do not project into the margin or within the contour of the inlet and sald webs at their outer ends do not project beyond the periphery of the impeller. As a result of this construction any undesirable churning action such as would result should the webs be extended partly across the impeller inlet, is entirely eliminated.

In order that the various --valves 26 may water tangentially be held close while the lmpeller is at rest springs 28 are connected to the said valve and to the peripheral portion of the impeller. These springs are very light and when the impeller is operated, they will not be sufliciently strong to prevent the valves from being moved by centrifugal force into their seats or recesses 27., g

It is of course to be understood that various changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the inventionas defined in the appended claims.

' What is claimed is:

1. In a centrifugal pump an impeller having a series of water compartments, each compartment having a central inlet, a peripheral outlet, an intermediate enlarged portion and portion.

2. In a centrifugal pump, ing a plurality of water compartments extending from a central inlet to peripheral outlets, there being an air vent within a wall of each compartment, and separate means for closing'the vents during the priming of the pump.

an impeller havan air vent in said enlarged 3. In a centrlfugal pump, an impeller having a plurality of water compartments, each having a central inlet, a peripheral outlet and an intermediate enlarged.- portion, each compartment being provided with means for permitting the escape of air from the enlarged portion thereof.

4. In a centrifugal pump, an impeller having peripheral outlets and a central inlet, webs within the impeller extending in a reg ular unbroken curve from the inlet to a point in the periphery, which is the rear edge of an outlet, thence coincident with the periphery to the forward edge of the next following outlet, whereby water compartments diminishing in cross sectional area from an intermediate point to the outlet are formed between adjacent webs and the water is delivered from said compartments in the direction of a tangent to the impeller.

5. In a centrifugal pump a casing having a central inlet and a peripheral outlet, an impeller eccentrically mounted-within the casing and having a central inlet and peripheral outlets, said impeller having water compartments extending from its inlet to its outlets for directing liquid by centrifugal force into the casing and along lines substantially tangential with the impeller, each compartment having an air vent therein and a valve mounted within each outlet inthe impeller and adapted to close the air vent of the next succeeding compartment.

6. A centrifugal pump having an impeller formed with a plurality of compartments each provided with an inlet, an outlet, an outer wall curved on the segment of a circle 5 having the axis of the impeller for its center, and a forward wall extending inward from the forward end of the outer wall, the outer wall and the forward wall being of substantially the same length.

7. In a centrifugal pump, an impeller hav ing compartments provided with peripheral outlets and air vents, and a valve for simultaneously closing each of the outlets and the adjoining vent.

8. In a centrifugalpump, an impeller having a central inlet and peripheral outlets, there being water compartments between the inlet and the outlets, each compartment having an air vent adjacent one of the outlets, and a valve movably mounted within the outlet and adapted 'to simultaneously close said outlet and the adjoining vent.

9. In a centrifugal pump, an impeller having compartments provided with peripheral outlets for discharging liquid along lines substantially parallel with the periphery of the impeller, each compartment having an air vent therein, and a valve mounted within each outlet and adapted to be opened by centrifugal force, each of said valves when closed, being adapted to close the air ventof the next succeeding compartment.

10. In a centrifugal pump, an impeller having peripheral outlets for directing water or other liquid along lines substantially parallel with the periphery of the impeller, air vents within the impeller, and a valve for closing each outlet and an adjoining vent, said valves being adapted to be opened by centrifugal force during the operation of the impeller.

11. A centrifugal pump including a casing, an impeller having an inlet, said casing being provided with I than said impeller inlet, and there being marginal outlets in the impeller of a combined area less than the inlet and greater than the outlet.

' 12. A centrifugal pump having an impeller which is circular in cross section and provided with a plurality of compartments each having a forward wall and an outer wall coincident with the periphery of the impeller, the length of the outer wall of each compartment bearing approximately the same fractional relation to the entire circumference of the impeller as one compartan outlet of less area ment bears to the entire number of com- 7 partments.

13. In a centrifugal pump, an impeller having a series of water compartments, each compartment having a central inlet, and a peripheral outlet, webs forming the outer and forward walls of each compartment, each web having a cut away portion at the inner portion of its outer end, a valve in each compartment for the outlet thereof, each valve being ivoted on the outer end of one of said we s and being adapted to swing into the cutaway portion thereof, the webserving to limit the outward swinging movement of the valve.

14. A centrifugal pump including a casing having an outlet, an impeller .t'hercin having a series of compartments, and an inlet in communication with the inner end of each of said compartments, each compartment being provlded at its outer end with an outlet, the outer wall of each compartment being curved on the segment of a circle having the axis of the impeller for its center and the forward Wall of each compartment beingcurved outward from the inlet of the impeller to the forward end of the outer wall of the compartment, the combined areas of the outlets of the compartments being greater than the area of the outlet from the casing and the area of the inlet being greater than the combined areas of the outlets of said compartments.

15. In a centrifugal pump, an impeller including a flat circular disk having a central circular inlet in one side and peripheral outlets, there being compartments within the disk and extending from the inlet to the outlet, the combined areas of the outlets being being less than the inlet, and a pump casing having an outlet of less area than the combined areas of the outlets of the impeller.

16. A centrifugal pump having an impeller Which is circular in cross section and is provided with a central inlet and water compartments occupying the entire cross section of the impeller excepting the inlet, said compartments being separated from each other by Walls, each Wall having a forward and an outer ortion of substantially the same length, the outer portion of each Wall being curved on the segment of a circle having the axis of the impeller for its 10 center. a

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my'own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JAMES VALK. Witnesses:

FRANK B. OcHsENRErrER, H. Goouwm. 

